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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AeroVironment, Gold Fields, Marvell, Nokia, Silver Wheaton and Many More

Stocks simply were looking for direction on Monday after gains on Friday. The Dow is still down 10% from highs and investors keep proving that they are willing to buy pullbacks. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $28.00 price target (versus a $20.44 prior close) at Piper Jaffray. AeroVironment has a consensus analyst price target of $29.00 and a 52-week trading range of $20.13 to $31.94.

Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The stock closed at $2.75 and has a consensus analyst price target of around $4.00 and a 52-week trading range of $2.35 to $6.01.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a lower price target of $9.50 (versus an $8.84 close, after a 16% price drop) at Morgan Stanley. The firm B. Riley also downgraded Marvell to Neutral from Buy with a $10.00 price target. This is after several other downgrades were issued by firms after the company’s disclosure of investigations into accounting irregularities.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was already rated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm added Nokia to its prized Conviction Buy List. Nokia closed at $6.51 and was indicated up around $6.53 after the call. The Finnish tech giant has a 52-week range of $5.71 to $8.73 and a consensus price target of $8.97.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets. Silver Wheaton closed at $11.62, has a consensus price target of $21.71 and has a 52-week range of $11.03 to $24.22. Its 52-week low was just hit last Friday.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Monday were seen as follows:

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $205.00 price target (versus a $171.93 close) at Barclays.

AstraZenec PLC (NYSE: AZN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE: BHP) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Cynosure Inc. (NASDAQ: CYNO) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $44.00 price target (versus a $33.80 close) at Stifel Nicolaus.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $33.00 price target (versus a $29.70 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) was maintained as Sector Perform and the price target was cut to $18.00 from $19.00 (versus a $12.63 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG, based mostly on valuation after a very big pop.

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Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $55.00 price objective (versus a $46.24 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse, although its $41.00 price target implies handy upside to the $35.19 closing price as Credit Suisse’s ratings coverage is relative to peers.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with an $87.00 price target (versus a $57.84 close) at JPMorgan.

Sierra Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) was reiterated as Buy and with a $38.00 price target (versus a $21.87 close) at Canaccord Genuity. The call is based on enterprise solutions product execution being expected to deliver sustainable long-term growth.

Spirit Realty Capital Inc. (NYSE: SRC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with an $11.00 price target (versus a $9.27 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $150.00 price target at Barclays.

Woodward Inc. (NASDAQ: WWD) was started as Market Perform with a $48.00 price target (versus a $44.26 close) at Cowen.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $50.00 price target (versus a $41.93 close) at Goldman Sachs.

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In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included BP, Chevron, Lululemon Athletica, Petrobras, Motorola Solutions, Shake Shack, Under Armour and over a dozen more companies.

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